Multiple station pointer for screws or the like



Oct. 9, 1962 E. B. BYAM 3,056,931

MULTIPLE STATION POINTER FOR SCREWS OR THE LIKE Filed April 3, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENT OR BY W W ATTORNEYS MULTIPLE STATION POINTER FOR SCREWS OR THE LIKE Filed April 3, 1957 E. B. BYAM Oct. 9, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR A a/Illa BY? /w% ATTORNEY 5 MULTIPLE STATION POINTER FOR SCREWS OR THE LIKE Filed April 5, 1957 E. B. BYAM Oct. 9, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR BY f,

Oct. 9, 1962 E. B. BYAM 3,

MULTIPLE STATION POINTER FOR SCREWS OR THE LIKE Filed April 5, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 r M 45 2o 47 Mil INVENTOR BY T I a ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,056,981 MULTIPLE STATION POINTER FOR SCREWS OR THE LIKE Erwin B. Byam, Wolcott, Conn, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Textron Inc., Providence, R.I., a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Apr. 3, 1957, Ser. No. 650,491 3 Claims. (Cl. -21) This invention relates to a multiple station pointer for screws or the like, and more particularly to a machine for pointing or beveling the unheaded ends of screw or bolt blanks.

In many instances it is desirable to provide the end of the shank of a screw or bolt blank with a point or at least a chamfer or bevel, the end being tapered in diameter for a short distance up the shank. The taper may comprise a complete cone so as to provide a pointed end or may comprise only a cone =frustum as desired. Such screw or bolt blanks are usually made upon machines such as a header from wire or rod stock, and it is expedient to feed the blanks directly from the header to the pointer. As the blanks can be manufactured rapidly, the pointing time is limited if the pointing device must receive the screws as they are delivered from the header and if the pointing is done at a single station.

It is contemplated by the present invention to provide a pointing device which will receive the blanks directly from the header or other machine which manufactures them but which will permit a generous amount of time for the pointing operation. To this end the pointing device consists of a plurality of pointing stations, each provided with a cutter to which the blank is presented for the complete pointing operation. In this way there is no transfer of the blanks from one cutter or pointing station to another but the stations are provided upon a rotating turret so that they may be successively rotated into registration with the blank-feeding chute by continuous rotation of the turret.

As illustrated, five pointing stations are provided although the number may be more or less as desired. Each of these stations includes a blank holder as well as a cutting tool, and means is provided when a blank is received in the holder to advance the blank gradually into the cutting tool so as to perfect the pointing operation during the rotation of the turret.

In the present instance, as five of the pointing stations are provided, it will be seen that any one station receives every fifth blank so that the time permitted for the pointing operation is substantially equal to that required by the header to deliver five of the blanks, thus allowing substantially five times as much time for the pointing operation as would be permitted if only one pointing station was provided.

-It will also be understood that means are provided not only for feeding or advancing the blanks toward the cutting tool during the rotation of the turret, but also means is provided for gripping the blanks and holding them against rotation so that they may be properly acted upon by the cutting tool.

One object of the invention is to provide a new and improved pointing or chamfering mechanism for screw or bolt blanks or the like.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a pointing device for screw blanks or the like in which a plurality of pointing stations are provided upon a rotatable turret, which stations are advanced or rotated successively into registration with a delivery chute to receive the blanks from the latter.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a screw-pointing machine of the character described "ice in which means are provided at each of the stations to grip the screw and hold it against rotation, the gripping means also being mounted for rotation with the pointing stations.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in a machine of the character described having a rotating turret with a plurality of pointing stations carried thereby, means for advancing or feeding the blank into the cutter gradually during the rotation of the turret.

In addition .to the above, means are provided to adjust the relative positions of the blank-holding mechanism and the cutting or pointing mechanism for blanks of different length and also to determine the length of the point or chamfer upon the blank.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a screw or bolt pointing machine embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 2%--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view on line 55 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the blank-holding mechanism showing the details thereof.

To illustrate one embodiment of the invention there is shown in the drawings a pointing mechanism comprising a frame 10 having a lower bearing member 11 rigidly carried thereby and an upper bearing member 12 supported by a transverse member 13 rigidly carried by the frame at the upper end thereof. Rotatably mounted in the bearings 11 and 12 is a shaft 14 to which is keyed a gear 15 which meshes with a pinion 16 (FIG. 1) driven by an electric motor 17 through reduction gearing 18.

Slidably mounted upon the shaft 14 (but rotating therewith as will be hereinafter described) .is a turret comprising a table 20 having an integrally formed, upwardly extending sleeve 21 and a downwardly extending, integrally formed sleeve 2, both of which embrace the shaft 14.

Rotatably mounted on bearings 23 on the sleeve 22 is the hub 24 of a gear 25. Keyed to the hub 24 is a pulley 26 (FIG. 1) which is driven by a belt 27 from a pulley 28 on the shaft 29 ofa motor 30. This motor 30 is carried by a supporting bracket 31 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which is slidably mounted upon a vertical portion of the frame 10 in a slideway 32. The lower end 33 of a shaft 34 is rotatably connected to the bracket 31 but restrained from longitudinal movement with respect thereto. This shaft is rotatably mounted in the frame 10 and extends upwardly through a bearing boss 35 formed upon the member 13. The shaft 34 is threaded at its upper end, as shown at 36, upon which is received a correspondingly threaded ratchet wrench 37 having a handle 38. Upon oscillation of the wrench the shaft 34 may be raised or lowered, thus raising or lowering the bracket 31.

This bracket is also provided with a sleeve portion 40 embracing the shaft 14 upon which is carried a bearing 41 below the sleeve 22 so that the member 40 takes the downward thrust of the sleeve 22, and raising and lower-ing of the bracket 31 will effect raising and lowering of the turntable 20 and gear 25 as well as the motor 30. It will, of course, be understood that when the bracket 31 is lowered, the table 20 and associated parts will follow it due to gravity.

Spaced about the turntable 20 are a plurality of cylindrical housings 42 rising upwardly from the table, and rotatably mounted in bearings 43 in each of these housings is a spindle 44 upon the upper end of which is carried a cutterhead 45 having cutting knives 46. The work, as will be explained, is fed or advanced between the inner edges of the cutting knives for the pointing operation. Upon the lower end of each of the spindles 44 is a pinion 47 which is in mesh with the gear 25 driven as previously explained by the motor 30. Thus the spindles 4 4 and cutters carried thereby are rotated by the motor '30 independently of the shaft 14, the gear 25, as explained, being rotatably mounted upon this shaft. Five of the cutters are provided, as shown, but this number, of course, may be varied.

Extending upwardly from the turret table '20 in spaced relation to the sleeve 21 is a flanged sleeve 48 secured to the table by screws 49. Secured at the upper end of this sleeve is a circular plate 50 to which are secured guide fingers 51, one for each of the cutter heads 45, these guide fingers being provided with openings 52 centered above the cutters through which the shank end of the work is advanced. As shown more especially in FIG. 6, these guide fingers 51 are clamped in place by clamping members 53 and screws 54.

As shown in FIG. 2, a frame 55 is keyed to the shaft 14 to rotate therewith as at 56, this frame being provided with a depending sleeve 57 which extends downwardly between the flanged sleeve 48 and the turret sleeve 21, and is keyed to the latter by the key 58. Therefore, as the turret table is keyed to the sleeve 57 and the latter is keyed at 56 to the shaft 14, the turntable 20 as well as the frame 55 will rotate with the shaft 14 and thus bring the pointing stations comprising the cutters and associated parts successively into registration with the blank-delivering chute, which will be hereinafter described.

As shown more especially in FIG. 4, webs 60 extend radially outwardly from the frame part 55 to support an outer ring '61 which is provided with outwardly opening guideways 62 in which are slidably mounted slides 63, the latter being held in the guideways by gibs 64. One of these slides 63 is provided for each of the pointing stations, and at the lower end of each slide is secured a blank holder 65 by screws 66 (FIG. Each of these holders is provided with an outwardly opening recess 67 to re ceive the shank of a blank from between the plates of a delivery chute 68 when the recess is in registration with the mouth of the chute.

Although the chute is shown as horizontally disposed in FIG. 1, it will be understood that in practice the axis of the machine or the shaft 14 is inclined with respect to the horizontal so that the chute will incline downwardly and the blanks will be delivered by gravity to the blank holders 65.

Each blank is delivered to the holder with its shank 70 (FIG. '6) resting in its recess 67 while the head 71 rests upon the upper surface of the holder. Means are provided to grip the head of the blank, this means including a plunger 72 slidably mounted in the slide 63, a wrench member 73 being secured at the lower end of the plunger and provided with a polygonal socket 74 to receive the polygonal head of the screw. A pin 75 may be secured in the wrench member 73 to limit the downward movement of the plunger toward the work when the head 71 of the blank rests upon the holder 65.

Each of the slides 63 which carries a work holder 65 is urged upwardly by a spring 76 secured at its lower end to a pin 77 which is secured to the slide and secured at its upper end to a plate 78 carried at the upper end of a support 79 secured upon the frame 55 so as to rotate therewith.

The slides 63 are moved gradually downwardly during the rotation of the shaft 14 by means of bell crank levers 80, one end of which is received in a recess 81 in the slide and the other end of which carries a roller 82 engaged by the periphery of a cam member 83. The bell crank levers are pivoted at 84 to the support 79, it being understood, of course, that there is one of these bell crank levers for each of the stations.

The cam 83 (FIGS. 2 and 4) is secured to a sleeve 85 depending downwardly from the bearing member 12 so that the cam is stationary at all times. It will be seen, therefore, that the slides 63 are urged upwardly by the springs 76, and the rollers 82 on the bell crank levers are thereby held against the periphery of the cam 83. Therefore, due to the shape of this cam, the slide at each station will be held upwardly as the station arrives opposite the chute 68 and will then be cammed gradually downwardly to feed the blank to the cutters 46.

Before the slides are moved downwardly to feed the blanks to the cutters, the plungers 72 are moved downwardly to grip the heads of the blanks and prevent rotat-ion thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, these plungers are secured to the lower ends of piston rods 86 secured to pistons 87 operating in cylinders 88 and held upwardly by springs 89, it, of course, 'being understood that one cylinder is provided for each of the plungers. The cylinders are carried upon the upper ends of the slides 63 so that they rotate with these slides and also move up and down with them. The plungers, of course, move relatively to the slides when urged downwardly by the pistons 87.

Means are provided for introducing a fluid under pressure into the cylinders 88, this means comprising a flexible conduit 90 leading from each of the cylinders to a valve mechanism 91 supported at the upper surface of the plate 78. These valves, as shown in FIG. 3, are actuated at the proper time by plungers 92 having cam follower rollers 93 thereon which ride upon the periphery of a cam member 94 secured to the stationary sleeve 85 of the bearing member 12.

Fluid under pressure is supplied to each of the valve members 91 by a duct 95 which leads to a passage 96 in the shaft 14 and upwardly through the end of this shaft to be supplied by a fitting 97 (FIG. 2).

Referring again to FIG. 5, a shoe 98 is pivoted at 99 to a part of the frame 10 and serves to guide the blanks from the chute 68 into the recess or pocket 67 in each of the holders 65. Upon this shoe is provided a plate 100 which is so dimensioned that it will engage only the flat side of the blank and hence will turn the blank so that its flat side is against the shoe to cause the blank to properly register with the wrench socket 74 of the member 73. The shoe 98 is resiliently urged toward the holders 65 by a plunger 101 reciprocably mounted in a case 102 and urged outwardly by a spring 103. It will be seen from FIG. 6 that the lower face of the wrench member 73 is, in its lowermost position, slightly above the upper face of the blank holder 65. This allows the wrench to descend upon the head of the blank when the lower portion of the latter is engaged by the guide plate 100.

As shown in FIG. 6 the upper position of each of the slides 63 is determined by an adjusting screw 104 which engages a part on the lower end of the slide as the latter 1s urged upwardly by the spring 76, see also FIG. 2.

The operation of the device may be briefly described as follows. With the device in operation it will be seen that the shaft 14 is constantly rotating, thus rotating the turntable 20 with the pointing stations thereon and also the blank-holding and gripping mechanism supported upon the member 55. These parts all rotate at the same speed and are keyed together so that each of the blankgripping and feeding mechanisms will always be in registratlon with the respective pointing stations. At the same time the motor 30 will rotate the gear 25 and the pinions 47 so as to effect rotation of the spindles 44 entirely independently of the shaft 14 so that the speed of the cutting spindles will be independent of and usually greater than that of the shaft 14.

As the recess 67 of one of the holders reaches a point opposite the chute 68, as shown in FIG. 5, a blank will be delivered into this recess and will be properly positioned by the guide plate 100 upon the guide shoe 98. Thereafter the corresponding plunger will be depressed due to the action of the cam 94 acting upon the roller 93 to actuate the valve mechanism 91 and admit air to the proper cylinder 88. The wrench member 73 will be depressed and will grip the head of the blank and hold the head against the upper surface of the holder 65.

Until this time the slides 63 will have been held upwardly by their springs 76 but upon continued rotation of the shaft 14, the cam 83 will act upon the cam followers 82 and gradually depress the slides so as to feed the work to the cutters. This feeding will continue progressively and the pointing of the blank will likewise continue until that particular pointing station has been rotated to a position again adjacent the chute. Prior to arriving at such position the head of the blank will be engaged by an ejector hook 105 (FIG. secured to the frame of the machine and will be ejected therefrom.

It will be understood that just prior to the time that the blank reaches the ejecting position, the cam 83 will permit the spring 76 to raise the slide 63 so as to withdraw the lower end of the blank from the cutters and also from the opening in the guide finger 52 through which the blank has previously been fed. Also the plunger 72 which has, during this period, held the blank downwardly against the blank holder 65 will also have been withdrawn by the spring 89 (the cam 94 having released the air from the cylinder 88), thus releasing the head of the blank so that it can be ejected from the machine by the member 105.

It will be noted (see FIG. 6) that each blank is clamped by the plunger 72 in a position wherein the lower or undersurface of the head 71 of the blank rests upon the upper surface of the blank holder 65. This holder is brought downwardly, to engage the lower end of the shank of the blank with the cutting mechanism, by the cam 83 which acts upon the bell crank levers 80' which in turn engage the slides 63. Thus the lower limit of the descent of the blanks may be determined by the shape of the cam, and this determines the position of the underface of the head of the blank.

It will also be noted that the cutter mechanisms are adjusted upwardly or downwardly by means of the adjustment of the shaft 34, which adjustment is accomplished by the wrench mechanism 37. Thus by adjusting the cutting mechanisms in the direction of the axis of the blanks and by determining the lower limit of the descent of the blanks by the shape of the cam 83, the length of the cylindrical portion of the shank of the blank (that is the distance between the lower surface of the head and the upper end of the point on the blank) can be accurately determined and will be uniform for all blanks with the same setting of the table 20 by adjustment of the shaft 34.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A blank-pointing mechanism comprising a support, a shaft rotatably mounted on said support, a turret carried by the shaft to rotate therewith, frame means carried by the shaft to rotate therewith in spaced relation with said turret, a plurality of cutting mechanisms rotatably mounted on the turret, said cutting mechanisms providing pointing stations, a motor carried by said turret and cooperating with said cutting mechanisms to rotatably drive said cutting mechanisms, a plurality of slides carried by said frame means, each in registration with one of said cutting mechanisms, a blank holder carried by each of said slides to support blank-s from the undersurface of the heads thereof, blank-gripping members movably carried in each of said slides and adapted to grip the blanks on said holders, said gripping member comprising a socket wrench means having an axial projection at the closed end thereof, the distance between the terminus of said projection and the open end of said wrench means being less than the thickness of a small blank head, means to supply blanks to said holders at one position during the rotation of the frame means, means to rotate said shaft and the turret and frame means carried thereby, fluid pressure cam operated means to move said gripping members toward said blank holders to clamp a blank therebetween, means to move each of said blank holders and gripping members as a unit toward the respective cutting mechanisms to feed the blanks toward the latter, said last-named means comprising a cam member mounted in fixed position adjacent said shaft, cam follower members pivoted on the frame means and engaged with said cam member and said slides.

2. A blank-pointing mechanism comprising a support, a shaft rotatably mounted on said support, a turret carried by the shaft to rotate therewith, frame means carried by the shaft to rotate therewith in spaced relation with said turret, a plurality of cutting mechanisms rotatably mounted on the turret, said cutting mechanisms providing pointing stations, a motor carried by said turret and cooperating with said cutting mechanisms to rotatably drive said cutting mechanisms, a plurality of slides carried by said frame means, each in registration with one of said cutting mechanisms, a blank holder carried by each of said slides to support blanks from the undersurface of the heads thereof, a plunger carried by each of said slides having a blank-gripping member at the lower end thereof adapted to grip the blanks on said holders, said gripping means comprising a socket wrench means having an axial projection therein, the distance between said projection and the blank holder being no greater than the thickness of the smallest head of a blank and said wrench means extending beyond the said projection, means to supply blanks to said holders at one position during the rotation of the frame means, means to rotate said shaft and the turret and frame means carried thereby, means to advance said plungers in timed relation to the rotation of the shaft to cause said plungers to grip the blanks on said holders, said means comprising piston and cylinder mechanism carried by the slides connected to said plungers, means responsive to the rotation of the shaft for introducing fluid pressure into said cylinders and cam operated bell crank means to move each of said blank holders and gripping members as a unit toward the respective cutting mechanisms to feed the blanks toward the latter.

3. A mechanism for pointing headed blanks comprising a support, a shaft rotatably mounted on said support, a turret carried by said shaft to rotate therewith, a frame carried by said shaft to rotate therewith in spaced relation to said turret, a plurality of cutting mechanisms rotatably mounted on said turret, said cutting mechanisms providing pointing stations, a motor carried by said turret and cooperating with said cutting mechanisms to rotatably drive said cutting mechanisms, a plurality of slides carried by said frame, each in registration with one of said cutting mechanisms, a blank holder above each cutting mechanism carried by each of said slides to support blanks from the under surface of the heads thereof, a blank gripping member movably carried by each of said slides and adapted to grip the heads of the blanks to prevent rotation thereof and to maintain the undersurface of the heads in contact with said blank holders during the pointing operation, said gripping members comprising a hollow wrench member having an axial projection terminating within said wrench member a distance less than the thickness of the smallest head of a blank, means to supply blanks to said holders at one position during the rotation of said frame, means mounted on said support to rotate said shaft, a cylinder mounted on each of said slides, a piston slidably mounted in each of said cylinders, each piston being connected to its associated blank gripping member to cause said gripping member to descend on and grip the blank head when fluid is introduced into said cylinder, a cam actuated valve associated with each cylinder to control the flow of fluid to said cylinder, said valve being responsive to the rotary position of said frame and cam operated levers mounted to said frame and associated with each of said slides to move the blanks towards and away from said cutting mechanisms in response to the rotary position of said frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Searles Aug. Crehan Apr. Jackson Sept. Dyblie Mar. Crehan et al Dec Peirce June Tilton Apr. Friedman Dec. Overly Apr. Farmer Jan. 

